This simple gluten free and keto naan yields killer results! Expect a sturdy, pliable and ultra tasty flatbread (courtesy of the yeast!); ideal for any and all low carb Indian dishes (think butter chicken!).
Gluten Free & Keto Naan 🍛
Ultra Sturdy!
This keto naan (or flatbread?!) is an awesome and quick way to incorporate some ‘bread’ into your busy lives. Needless to say, they’re terrific with Indian curries such as our butter chicken; but feel free to use them as wraps, toasted into croutons, and so on.
I’ve also tested it with a variety of flours (see section!), so you guys will be able to adapt them more readily to suit your needs.
But whatever you, give them a try freshly made with garlic butter and a touch of coriander; simply sublime!
The Flours
Super fine almond flour is the base for this keto naan, and you truly do want to try and procure a fine grind (think Anthony’s or WellBees). But for the second flour you have a few options to choose from (hooray!):
–Oat fiber puffs up the most and has the best texture out of the lot, arguably as it is a grain… having said that, I’ve been testing it in small quantities for a few weeks and haven’t noticed any inflammation (and I know many of you are big fans!). Oh, and the neat thing about oat fiber is that it’s virtually carb-less (I’m assuming there’s a trace, but labels read 3g carbs – 3g fiber = 0 net carbs!). For visual comparison in the picture above, the oat fiber naan is on the left. Also keep in mind that brands vary a lot here and Lifesource seems to be the best (no weird aftertaste, etc).
– Finely ground golden flaxseed meal doesn’t quite puff up (it’s on the right in the picture), but has a truly lovely texture and taste.
– And last (but not least!), coconut flour! This one also puffs up and works surprisingly well, but it does cook best in the oven; while the previous two can also be whipped up on the stove top too. In terms of brands here, I always favor Anthony’s here (honestly best taste by a mile!)
Also, keep in mind that a touch of xanthan gum is non-negotiable I’m afraid; as it binds it all together (i.e. replaces the gluten).
The Deets 
These low carb naan are as easy to whip up as our famous keto tortilla recipe (fact is, they’re directly inspired by it!). So you simply proof the yeast, pulse all the ingredients together in your food processor or in your stand/hand mixer, let the dough rest for thirty, roll it out and cook it up.
In terms of the cooking up, you can do either in the oven or on the stovetop. Both do require that you heat up a skillet (or pizza oven?!) so the naan gets a burst of heat and cooks rapidly.
Oh, and do feel free to play around with the thickness. Though keep in mind that, in my experience, thinner naan cooks best in the stovetop while thicker one in the oven (perhaps a no brainer?!).
The Yeast
Even though this low carb naan does employ the help of yeast (can’t beat the taste guys!), it doesn’t require all the fuss of say the sandwich bread or cinnamon rolls. So as long as you proof your yeast properly (read below), and you let it rest in a nice warm spot to develop the flavors you’ll be golden!
Top tips for proofing yeast: Mix dry active yeast with water that’s just warm to touch (between 105-110°F to be precise) and inulin or an actual sugar (think maple syrup or honey) for 7 minutes until foamy. If you don’t see any activity, your yeast may’ve gone bad or your water temperature was off (so start over!). And before you scream sugar (!!) remember that the yeast will feed on such sugar to emit carbon dioxide, so it doesn’t affect the carb count. And yes, this is a scientific fact.
Gluten Free & Keto Naan (i.e. Flatbread!)
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 1/2 teaspoon inulin or honey/maple syrup to feed the yeast*
- 2 tablespoons water lukewarm between 105-110°F
- 96 g almond flour
- 24 g oat fiber coconut flour or golden flaxseed meal**
- 2 teaspoons xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 egg lightly beaten
For the garlic butter
- 1 tablespoon grass-fed butter melted
- 1 clove garlic ran through a press
- coriander to garnish
Instructions
- Proof the yeast by mixing it with the inulin (or touch of sugar!) and lukewarm water in a small bowl or cup. Cover with a kitchen towel and allow to rest for 7 minutes. The mixture should be bubbly, if it isn't start again (too cold water won't activate the yeast and too hot will kill it).
- Add almond flour, oat fiber (flaxseed meal or coconut flour), xanthan gum, baking powder and salt to food processor. Pulse until thoroughly combined.
- Pour in the apple cider vinegar with the food processor running. Once it has distributed evenly, pour in the egg. Stop the food processor and add in the yeast mixture (it can't really be 'poured in'). Pulse a few times until the dough comes together. The dough should be sturdy, but sticky to touch. Form into a ball, cover with a kitchen towel and allow to rest in a warm draft-free spot for 30-60 minutes (you can leave it in the food processor or transfer it to a clean bowl). You'll notice the most rise out of the three flours with the flaxseed meal, but what's important here is the taste and aroma from the yeast.
- Wrap the rested dough in cling film and knead it through the plastic for a minute or two. Think of it a bit like a stress ball.
- Divide the dough into four pieces. Roll out between two sheets of parchment or waxed paper with a rolling pin. Feel free to play with different thicknesses here; though keep in mind that, in my experience, thinner naan cooks best in the stovetop while thicker one in the oven (perhaps a no brainer?!).
To cook on the stove-top:
- Heat up a skillet (preferably) or pan over medium heat. You can test the heat by sprinkling a few water droplets, if the drops evaporate immediately your pan is too hot. The droplets should ‘run’ through the skillet.
- Heat up a little oil (butter or ghee), add the rolled out naan and cover immediately with a lid. Depending on your heat level, you'll want to cook the naan for 30-40 seconds on each side, until lightly charred and bubbly.
To cook in the oven:
- Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C with an oven-proof skillet or pizza stone while the dough is proofing.
- Similar to the stove-top method, you'll want to cook the naan on the hot skillet in the oven for roughly 30-40 seconds on each side until lightly charred and bubbly.
- Brush with garlic butter and garnish with coriander. These naan are best eaten straight away, but they do rewarm surprisingly well!
Hi Paola!! Do you think I could “toast” these to dry them out and use it for fatoush salad? Not sure if they’d hold up in the salad or get too soggy. What do you think? Any other ideas for stale flatbread for fatoush salad? Thanks so much!
Use the flatbread recipe instead!! It’s similar but because you fry that one in oil it comes out better in texture (in fact, it’s prob time for me to come up with a better naan recipe 🙊!)
As others stated, mine didn’t really rise (used coconut flour for the oat fibre and honey for the yeast). However, they worked great as a bread side for my butter chicken. Made a double batch and shared with my keto neighbors. Will be making several batches to freeze. These are pretty good as a Keto naan. Thanks so much.
These are SO worth making! Legit bread! The structure, the way they blend with other food, it’s amazing. Definately will make larger batches and freeze them because they’re so easy to make and go with curries and other stuff. And I love indian food, and have missed good naans or rotis for so long. Thank you!
This is lovely! I used honey to feed the yeast and skipped the garlic butter topping as I was in a hurry, but it was still absolutely delicious, perfect with butter chicken! Oh and I also used regular almond flour, not super-fine, as that’s all I had at hand and I don’t think the recipe suffered too much because of it. I made these in advance and reheated two in the microwave for 1 minute between two paper towels, and they were just perfect. Thank you so much for sharing this fantastic recipe 🙂
Hi, this recipe looks like what I’ve been searching for! Can you substitute Lupin Flour for the oat fiber?
Thanks for your help!
Hi, I have made these before, but this time I can’t find yeast; all the stores are out of it (just like the toilet paper!). Would these still turn out ok without the yeast? I’m not sure if it is solely for the flavor or if the yeast also contributes to the texture. Thanks.
You should be fine Kiera, as the dough works well without the yeast too! Maybe check out the flatbread as an alternative right now? xo!
Really good. We’re not gluten free so I subbed half the almond flour with vital wheat gluten. Doubled the recipe and made a pizza. I thought it was very good as pizza dough, though next time I will bake at a higher temp. The center of the dough was not quite done enough even though I baked longer than instructed in the original crazy dough recipe. I found the pizza leftovers were great with a good, hard toast on ’em.
Hi! Just want to say thank you for this recipe it was amazing and I will definitely be making them again😍😍
Hi,
What is the purpose of the Cider Vinegar?
I put two tablespoons rather that two teaspoons.
🙁
Try again!
I hate to ask dumb questions on things like this but here is one. Is oat fiber the same as oat flour?
No, oat bran is just the bran. Oat flour is ground oats. Much higher in carbs.
Thanks for your response. :\
no, Kell, the two are not the same.
I don’t enjoy the texture & flavour of coconut flour. Is it noticeable? Or can I just use almond flour? Love your recipes!
Thank you for this recipe! We made it and loved it far more than Naan recipes without yeast! One question. I will always make more than one batch. Want to quadruple it (and freeze some extras) but do I it need 10tsp yeast or would that number lower? I really doubt it would need that. Is the yeast more for flavour or does it serve an important purpose (like pliability) as mine really did not rise much, but I did get the correct number of Naan.
Yum yum yummmmm
Glad to know this recipe
Thanks a lot
Hi there – new to keto and will be making these to accompany my tandoori chicken curry. Can I substitute Apple cider vinegar with something else? Red wine vinegar perhaps?
Yes, that’ll work well!
This is the best naan recipe I have found in my entire journey of Keto. I am an Indian and crave for roti and naan. I made this yesterday and it came out very well. Thanks for your wonderful recipe.
Thanks so much for sharing these amazing recipes.
I had a question though as I think I might be doing something wrong? I have tried your naan bread, tortillas and the cinnamon twist. For some reason the breads aren’t as pliable as yours looks and the cinnamon twists, the dough itself was hard to twist, it started to crack and then when baked it became hard. The flavour was there but it was more like a bran taste than the soft fluffy ones in your pictures.
Help please!
FYI I used your naan bread recipe as a base for pizza and it was delicious!!!
Made this recipe tonight, with some substitutions/additions (sigh, this is why I’m a bad baker – I just fly by the seat of my pants!) – I wanted to report in case other less cavalier cooks are wondering if certain substitutions will work or not! I haaaate the taste of flax meal so I substituted 1:1 with ground chia seeds. I also (stupidly) had no eggs left (doh!) so I was forced to use even more chia as an egg replacement (1tbsp ground chia seeds w/ 3 tbsp water). I was worried that the missing fat from the egg would be an issue, so I threw in a few tbsp of yogurt too, because why not?. Used my tortilla press to shape/flatten, and cooked on the stovetop in a cast iron skillet . Result = no puff at all, but a lovely thin flatbready kind of thing. Made myself a little mini-pizza on one for supper. Taste and texture is lovely 🙂
Update: Made these again now that I had some actual eggs on hand! Instead of oat/flax, I still substituted half coconut flour and half ground chia seeds. Gave the dough a short rise in lump form, then used my tortilla press to shape and gave them a second rise while they were already shaped (to try to encourage a bit more puff). Cooked them on my outdoor grill (lightly oiled) and they turned out FABULOUS. Devoured them with some baba ganoush. Thank you so much for the recipe!
Hi! What is the best substitute for inulin? Thank you! ^_^